The nation honors an Ashtabula hero, a World War II Marine

Lenel Moore was one of the first black Americans to serve in the Marine Corps. He had to overcome racism at home so he could help to overcome Japanese aggression in the Pacific during World War II.

On Saturday – nearly 70 years after his service ended – his country thanked him for both achievements.

Marines from the headquarters of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines (3/25) in Brook Park presented the Ashtabula man with a Congressional Gold Medal as 90 people – most of them family – cheered, applauded and wept for joy at the VFW Hall in Ashtabula.

"If I had to do it over again, I would," said the 87-year-old Moore. "I appreciate this honor that I thought I'd never see."

Congress authorized the medals to be awarded to the so-called Montford Point Marines. No blacks ever served in the Corps until 1942 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt banished race as a barrier to military service. Between 1942 and 1946, 20,000trained at a segregated corner of Camp Lejeune called Camp Montford Point.

Lt. Col. Pete McAleer, Inspector Instructor for the 3/25, said Saturday that the Corps retained only 1,000 of the Montford Point Marines and discharged the rest in 1946 "without so much as a thank you."

He estimated that only 900 are still alive, though some estimates from the Marine Corps place the number closer to 500.

Moore, he said, "joined at a time when his country was not treating everyone equally."

The Montford Point Marines, the Tuskegee Airmen and the Japanese-American Battalions that served in Europe, "changed the way we viewed minorities," McAleer said.

Sgt. Major Mike Burke of the 3/25 said that today, many Americans still do not know about the Montford Point Marines. But the Corps remembers them. When he was in boot camp more than 20 years ago, they were part of the history that he learned.

Though recruitment was opened to everyone, the armed forces would remain officially segregated until President Harry S. Truman ordered total integration in 1948.

George Forbes, attorney, former head of the NAACP in Cleveland and a Marine in the early 1950s, said in an earlier interview that the Marine Corps was the last service to admit blacks and the first to completely integrate.

McAleer said Saturday that congress decided to recognize the Montford Point Marines earlier this year with the medals. He believes that fewer than half the eligible Marines received their medals in Washington D.C. last summer from the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Of the rest, "The Marine Corps is chasing them all down."

Burke read the official proclamation Saturday, accompanying Moore's honor. It was signed by President Obama and Gen. James Amos, the commandant.

Rosemary Moore, daughter of the honoree, said the plan was for one of his nephews to pick him up and take him to the hall under the pretense that the nephew was being honored.

Moore said later that he had a pretty good idea what was happening the moment he walked in. "When I stepped in the door, I felt the joy. I was really surprised," he said.

Moore served on Iwo Jima, which saw some of the most brutal fighting in Pacific during World War II. The Marines suffered around 24,000 casualties, including 6,000 dead, according to government statistics.

Most of the black Marines were relegated to support units, but many still ended up in the thick of the fight.

Moore described his unit as "the clean-up crew." They retrieved the dead and wounded from the field of battle.

He took a piece of shrapnel in his left leg, he said. And of the 32 in his platoon, only eight survived.

Rosemary Moore said before the presentation that he father never spoke of his service during the war. "But last summer he gathered grandchildren around in his kitchen and told them stories about the war," she said. "They listened and they're teenagers!"

Grandson Alvin Lewis, 23, said after the ceremony that "I'm proud of my grandfather. I never knew he served. "That's one of the hardest medals to achieve and I'm proud of him."

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.